Police stage 'raid' on Commons office of another Tory MP

A Tory MP claims police entered his House of Commons office last night without a warrant and demanded to see constituency correspondence.

Daniel Kawczynski said he was informed by his office about the police raid as he was due to make a speech in a Commons debate.

Raising a point of order in Parliament last night, he said: 'To my great embarrassment and eternal shame, I was so weak I handed over the letter they demanded.

'They were already present in my office and I went down to see them after making my speech.

They said they were investigating an important case with regards to correspondence that had been sent to ministers and wanted to see handwriting samples of writing that people had written to me.

'I was extremely appalled that the officer can behave in this way, to enter a Member of Parliament's office with no warrant and to demand constituency correspondence.'

In November, Tory MP Damian Green was arrested and four addresses linked to him, including his office in the Commons, searched under anti-terror laws.

The Speaker of the House, Michael Martin, said that such an event would not happen again without a warrant.

Mr Kawczynski said he would 'have to live with' his decision to hand over the letter demanded by the police.

The Shrewsbury and Atcham MP told Deputy Commons Speaker Sir Michael Lord: 'After everything that has happened to Mr Green, I find it disgraceful that this is happening and I urge you to investigate.'

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood demanded that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith make a statement to MPs about the matter.

'It is clear this is a shocking event,' he said, adding that assurances given in the wake of Mr Green's arrest had not been honoured. That incident followed a complaint to police about the leaking from the Home Office of a series of stories embarrassing to the Government.

The Speaker subsequently accused police of entering the Commons without a search warrant. It later emerged that police secretly recorded Mr Green's reactions when they arrested him.

Scotland Yard last night issued a fierce rebuttal of Mr Kawczynski's allegations and insisted that no search had been conducted and that officers had attended the MP's office by appointment.